Life changing devices: the simple preserving funnel

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Posted by Fiona Nevile in Kitchen equipment | 34 comments

Photo: Fiona posing with the preserving funnel

I always thought that preserving funnels were the sort of dinky faddy things that Little Grey Rabbit might have had hanging in her kitchen. For years I’ve found that filling jars with hot jam, marmalade or chutney has been a messy business. My mum advised putting the jars on newspaper before filling – which is a good trick as you throw away the paper and the mess in seconds. But you still have to deal with the sticky jars.

Lingering in Newmarket this week I spotted a preserving funnel on sale in a kitchen shop. At half price, it was irresistible. I’d been keeping my eye out for one since Kate(uk) mentioned how good they were in a comment on the blog.

Filling jars with homemade passata I overfilled a jar and the extra passata stayed in the funnel and didn’t spill. Later I made some crabapple chilli jelly and filling the jars was a doddle. No mess, waste or cleaning up palaver. Brilliant.

Amazon has one here Faringdon Preserving jar funnel and Westfalia has a cheaper, similar one. Update: I’ve just spotted that Lakeland has a non stick one for a good price.

34 Comments

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Peter
July 10, 2012

My partner has a Sunbeam Mix Master and for one of the attachments there is funnel for use with the mincer. It gets more use now when we make jam, so much quicker and non-stick as well. Keep up the good work. Almyra and Peter.

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Petro
February 28, 2012

Hallo from a sweltering South Africa. I am in the midst of canning green tomato chutney / pickles etc etc etc.

I have stumbled upon a neat (cheap) tool to fill smaller necked bottles with = a funnel used to drain car oil. I am rather chuffed with this! It can take about 2 cups of jam and then go through a funnel of about 2 cm.

I also think your preserving tips and recipes would make a good kindle book. I’ll use it for sure!

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Jill Honeybun
December 16, 2010

I love my jam funnel – I keep it in my preserving pan so they’re always together when I need them.

The other thing I wouldn’t be without is a 4 pint Pyrex jug. It makes pouring lots easier if you are making a large quantity. For small quantities of jam and chutney, just put all the ingredients in the jug and cook in the microwave.

At Christmas time I make my own Royal Icing so there are some egg yolks left over. I turn these into beautiful lemon curd (I’ve won WI prizes for it!). Cooked very, very, gently in the pyrex jug in the microwave it’s a Christmas treat. Happy cooking!

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Tricia
September 6, 2010

Hello Fiona,
I noticed your blog about the funnel whilst searching for a damson jam recipe. Your’re my kind of woman for sure, however it would not have come to mind to have a photo taken of the funnel whilst in bed. Saucy or what …

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